Movies, Memories, and Whatnot.

Much like one of the main characters in my book I love old movies, and by old I mean older than me. Hence I don’t consider any of the Star Wars movies old.

Not. At. All.

Anyway, when I say old, I mean black and white, or Technicolor old.

“Gone with the wind”, Audrey Hepburn, Alfred Hitchcock, Vivien Leigh, “Some Like it Hot”, Greta
Garbo, “Witness for the Prosecution”, Spencer Tracy and whatnot kind of old. I could go on forever.

I'll tell you that at the age of eight I missed school for a whole week to watch a Fred Astaire Marathon on TV. My mom might contest it. Ok, it might not have been a whole week, but that’s how I remember it. One of my favorites at the time was “Silk Stockings”, which in essence is the same story as in “Ninotchka”, with Greta Garbo that I also enjoyed.

I’ve mentioned before that I take dance lessons. I bet you can guess my favorite style now.

You got it. Tap. So don’t even get me started on “Singing in the Rain”. It’s entertaining, funny, romantic, surprising, has wonderful dancing and singing, and also makes you think about the transition from silent movies to “talkies”. (Much like “The Artist” which is silent, black and white, but not old at all. Needless to say I loved it.)

 

I just remembered something. When I was on 8^th grade I had the most curious collection. I collected movie stars (mostly) from the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. It was nothing more than a list of all the movie stars I knew from that era. It’s silly, I know. But everyone wanted to add to my list. I remember my math teacher, this big guy with a low voice telling me to add Julie Christie’s name. She was Lara in “Doctor Zhivago”, but I have to confess, I don’t think I ever watched it.  (I don’t think she is part of the Golden age though.)

Quoting Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor and Debbie Reynolds:  “It’s great to stay up late”, but I must retreat  because “tomorrow is another day”(Scarlett O’Hara), and I’m really tired!

“Here’s looking at you, kid.” (Rick Blaine in Casablanca)

Good Night!

 

 

 

My first book

Today I’ll talk about “A Peça que Faltava”.

That’s the name of my recently, and hopefully the first published book, as you can see it’s not in English, but in Portuguese, and I bet you can also tell it is a children’s book. 

         

“The Missing Piece” could be the title in English but I have to say that the meaning gets a little lost in translation.

I won’t try to explain it now.

Anyway, this is the synopsis: The sisters, Pepe, Re and Mila are not letting the bad weather ruin their vacation at grandma’s house. With a lot of imagination and creativity, and the help of unlikely new friends, they will turn those rainy days into a big show.

I wrote it about two years ago for a literary competition, and it is loosely based on experiences from my own childhood.

My dear, and talented friend Jessica Geraldeli did a wonderful job illustrating it.

I love the cover!

Hope you like it too!

 

September Resolution

Today is September 1^st.

Wow! Two thirds of 2013 are behind us.

My “New Year’s Resolution” was to publish my book. Technically I did. It wasn’t The book I meant, but it is a story of mine, so I guess it still counts. Okay, it didn’t happen exactly as I hoped, but it did.

I self-published a tiny little book with a cute little story. Nonetheless it felt big, and I felt happy.

I felt accomplished for many reasons, not only for the book itself, but for putting myself out there. See, I’m a very private person, but now I find myself in a conflicting situation. If I want to pursue a career as a writer, a published writer, I must leave my comfort zone, and let others know about my work, and myself.

That’s the reason I’m starting this blog at this very moment.

My. First. Entry.

What to write about? I’ve been thinking about that for over a month now.

So here it is, my “September’s Resolution” for this year is to finish The book by October 1^st, and maybe lose some weight and exercise more, one can always benefit from that!

 All this talk about September reminded me of the song by Earth, Wind and Fire, and my dance class that resumes in two weeks. That was the music we were dancing to before summer break, and I loved it!

See what I just did there? I just put myself out there a little more!